A friend of my wife hosted an in home sales party, something like Tupperware. Only it was for a brand of chocolates. One of the items my wife brought home was a jar of Cocoa Roma pasta sauce. It wasn't sampled at the party but she though it sounded good. She prepared it last night for dinner. Basically just warmed up with some browned ground turkey and some spaghetti. In hindsight it might have been a good idea. It tasted terrible. We ended up at a local IHOP for dinner. She also bought a bottle of some BBQ sauce too. Not sure how that stuff tastes, not sure I want to know.

A friend of my wife hosted an in home sales party, something like Tupperware. Only it was for a brand of chocolates. One of the items my wife brought home was a jar of Cocoa Roma pasta sauce. It wasn't sampled at the party but she though it sounded good. She prepared it last night for dinner. Basically just warmed up with some browned ground turkey and some spaghetti. In hindsight it might have been a good idea. It tasted terrible. We ended up at a local IHOP for dinner. She also bought a bottle of some BBQ sauce too. Not sure how that stuff tastes, not sure I want to know.

Anything else sound good but tasted terrible?

Just want to say that the words 'cocoa' and 'pasta sauce' just do NOT go together. It sounds revolting.

And salt tasting is just another bullshit scam. Salt is salt. I really hate those parties where you feel obligated to buy something. My ex used to drag me to those damn things and we ended up with a lot of Tupperware and some really tacky home decorator stuff.

For me, it's coffee. That stuff smells just wonderful when it's brewing, but let any of it get into my mouth, and I'll spew it out in a heartbeat. I can't even stand anything that vaguely tastes like coffee; coffee ice cream, for example.

Strawberry ice cream. It's never as good as you think it's going to be. I have had generic kinds; gourmet kinds; kinds that supposedly had chunks of strawberries in them; off-white, dye-free, artificial flavor-free kinds; kinds that were chock-full of chemicals; and not one ever succeeded in tasting remotely like a strawberry. Or like much of anything. They were all just kind of vaguely sweet.

Roasted chestnuts. The famous song makes them sound so enticing but don't fall for it because it's a trap! I am not a picky eater in the least and I love nuts but roasted chestnuts are nasty as hell. The vile taste and texture are hard to describe but they are like vaguely spoiled, spongy, mealy, semi-sweet hunks of unidentifiable purification. They could have literally picked almost any other type of nut and it would have work out infinitely better - walnuts, pistachios, pecans etc. Those are all excellent but not so with chestnuts.

Strawberry ice cream. It's never as good as you think it's going to be. I have had generic kinds; gourmet kinds; kinds that supposedly had chunks of strawberries in them; off-white, dye-free, artificial flavor-free kinds; kinds that were chock-full of chemicals; and not one ever succeeded in tasting remotely like a strawberry. Or like much of anything. They were all just kind of vaguely sweet.

If I may go one step further, I'd say strawberries themselves. I've eaten them many times but they're almost always disappointing. They're a little tangy, a little sweet, but mostly bland. I usually end up having to add sugar or some other sweetner to them. I don't have that problem wiith other types of ripe berries and fruits.

If I may go one step further, I'd say strawberries themselves. I've eaten them many times but they're almost always disappointing. They're a little tangy, a little sweet, but mostly bland. I usually end up having to add sugar or some other sweetner to them. I don't have that problem wiith other types of ripe berries and fruits.

I've had them from a home garden, and not the grocery store, and those kind are gooooooood. Smaller, but bursting with flavor.

I've had them from a home garden, and not the grocery store, and those kind are gooooooood. Smaller, but bursting with flavor.

Grocery store strawberries are like grocery store tomatoes. With few exceptions, absolutely worthless tasting mostly of water and flavorless plant cellulose with a faint aroma of the fruit in question rather than the actual fruit.

I once bought some gorgonzola dolce because it sounded interesting. If I had bothered to actually think about it I would have realized that the combination of sweet and blue cheese would taste exactly how it sounds. I am somebody who will try almost anything once and I love almost all cheeses but this was just wrong (although there must be people who like it or they wouldn't sell it).

I've tried to like hot dogs all of my life. The sight and smell of 'dogs on a NYC vendor's cart will make my mouth water and so I'll try one every few years just to check if I suddenly like them. Nope. Same-o, same-o rubbery, hot bologna yick made of pig snouts and anus (anii?)

I once bought some gorgonzola dolce because it sounded interesting. If I had bothered to actually think about it I would have realized that the combination of sweet and blue cheese would taste exactly how it sounds. I am somebody who will try almost anything once and I love almost all cheeses but this was just wrong (although there must be people who like it or they wouldn't sell it).

Sweet & blue cheese is actually a classic pairing -- whether fruit, honey, or a sweet wine. (Though I've never had gorgonzola dolce. It looks to me like it's just a young, soft, mild gorgonzola rather than anything actually sweet.)

Pasta. The sauce cooking makes some pretty good smells, but put it on top of a plate full of bland noodly noodles... yuck. Noodles should always be used in moderation. They're not a dish in and of themselves, no matter what sauce you pour on top to pretend they have actual flavor.

Roasted chestnuts. The famous song makes them sound so enticing but don't fall for it because it's a trap! I am not a picky eater in the least and I love nuts but roasted chestnuts are nasty as hell. The vile taste and texture are hard to describe but they are like vaguely spoiled, spongy, mealy, semi-sweet hunks of unidentifiable purification. They could have literally picked almost any other type of nut and it would have work out infinitely better - walnuts, pistachios, pecans etc. Those are all excellent but not so with chestnuts.

Where did you get your chestnuts? Did you gather them yourself? When roasted, they should taste like baked potato, only sweeter. I love them!

I'm assuming you know there's more than one kind? Horse chestnuts are, as you describe, inedible. Back in 1991, when I was living in a town in Czechoslovakia where the streets were littered with the damned things in November, I did not know this. So I collected a bagful and took them home to roast, thinking I'd struck the mother lode. Imagine how I felt when I took a great big bite and immediately spit it out. Yeccch! Revolting!

A couple of years ago, I bought another bag full of chestnuts at a supermarket here in Toronto. These were the edible kind, but when I got them home and started peeling them, I found the whole lot was moldy. Again, yeccch!

With regard to my own personal dislikes, number one on my list is that horrid French Roast coffee restaurants were pushing back in the '90s. Tastes like moldy vanilla, if you ask me. Again, yeccch! How anyone can drink that crap is beyond me!

Where did you get your chestnuts? Did you gather them yourself? When roasted, they should taste like baked potato, only sweeter. I love them!

Actually, I'll side with Shagnasty on this. Roasted chestnuts smell like they should be the greatest thing in the world but they end up tasting like, as you described it, slightly sweeter (and vaguely nutty) baked potatoes. Not my thing at all. I've eaten them at the Christmas markets in Europe (mostly Budapest) where they are ubiquitous, so it's not the quality of chestnuts that's the problem. They're just bland. I'm not sure I've ever gotten ones that match Shagnasty's description, but I just didn't get their appeal. Of course, I'm also not a fan of baked potatoes, so maybe that has something to do with it. And every year I would try them again, enticed by the smell, and every year I wonder why I bothered.

I've tried to like hot dogs all of my life. The sight and smell of 'dogs on a NYC vendor's cart will make my mouth water and so I'll try one every few years just to check if I suddenly like them. Nope. Same-o, same-o rubbery, hot bologna yick made of pig snouts and anus (anii?)

I always hated hotdogs as a child, and my mother always bought the most expensive ones from the kosher butcher. Once in high school, I ate one that was probably pig lips and anuses. I threw up.

However, I LOVE soy dogs. Go figure. I also hate turkey, but I love Tofurky so much it literally* makes my mouth water just to type the word "Tofurky."

With regard to my own personal dislikes, number one on my list is that horrid French Roast coffee restaurants were pushing back in the '90s. Tastes like moldy vanilla, if you ask me. Again, yeccch! How anyone can drink that crap is beyond me!

Are you talking actual French Roast coffee, which is a wide range of coffees that is roasted to a particular level that is darker than your standard roast, or are you talking about the French vanilla flavored coffee which, I agree, was terrible and sounds like it matches your description more than French roast coffee.

I've tried to like hot dogs all of my life. The sight and smell of 'dogs on a NYC vendor's cart will make my mouth water and so I'll try one every few years just to check if I suddenly like them. Nope. Same-o, same-o rubbery, hot bologna yick made of pig snouts and anus (anii?)

All-beef franks are infinitely better. And kosher all-beef are the best of the best. Right now, I'd do just about anything for a Chicago-style kosher hot dog with a few drops of Tabasco. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

Are you talking actual French Roast coffee, which is a wide range of coffees that is roasted to a particular level that is darker than your standard roast, or are you talking about the French vanilla flavored coffee which, I agree, was terrible and sounds like it matches your description more than French roast coffee.

That would be the coffee flogged by pricey restaurants in the '90s, yes. I'm sure genuine French coffee roasted a la mode is delightful, but the last time I might have had it was 1975.

Wow. One of my favorite pizzas ever was the bacon cheeseburger pizza at Pizza Inn, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, back when I lived there in the 1990s. Of course, it had mustard instead of tomato sauce, cheddar cheese mixed in with the parmesan, dill pickle slices, and, as I mentioned, bacon chunks as well as the hamburger. Maybe a half-assed version of that wouldn't taste very good.

For me, it's caviar. The first time I had it, back when my dad was in the Air Force Reserve and my family occasionally ate with him at the officer's club on base, it was just amazingly salty. Salt overload. I always figured "that couldn't have been good caviar, nobody would spread salt paste on crackers and call it high-class" so, when I saw some at Albertsons, I bought a tiny little jar. Well... I was right about the saltiness, but I still don't like it, because it's too fishy. Oh, well. Maybe when I'm richer and stupider I'll buy some of the truly high-class stuff and give it one last whirl.

That would be the coffee flogged by pricey restaurants in the '90s, yes. I'm sure genuine French coffee roasted a la mode is delightful, but the last time I might have had it was 1975.

Then I don't know. I've never had a French roast in a coffeeshop that tasted anything of moldy vanilla. I'm honestly perplexed. There's nothing really mysterious or hard-to-find about genuine French roast. Every coffee roaster has a French roast.

For me, it's caviar. The first time I had it, back when my dad was in the Air Force Reserve and my family occasionally ate with him at the officer's club on base, it was just amazingly salty. Salt overload. I always figured "that couldn't have been good caviar, nobody would spread salt paste on crackers and call it high-class" so, when I saw some at Albertsons, I bought a tiny little jar. Well... I was right about the saltiness, but I still don't like it, because it's too fishy. Oh, well. Maybe when I'm richer and stupider I'll buy some of the truly high-class stuff and give it one last whirl.

Caviar is only considered "high-class" because it is hard to produce so therefore expensive. I like it just fine in moderation but I am not going to pay for it myself.

There are a number of exclusive foods like that. Fugu (poisonous pufferfish) is really bland. Foie gras (fattened goose liver) is sometimes tolerable but usually tastes like licking a newborn baby's diaper.

My ex-wife is one of the most foremost cheese experts in the world responsible for importing the most exotic ones to the U.S. and there are even some that she thinks are disgusting regardless of their history and backstory. I have taste tested some exotic cheeses that made me actively furious. You won't see those in the U.S. because they didn't make it but someone is making and eating them somewhere.

Just because something exists and expensive, doesn't mean that it is good.

Oh, man, I dunno. A nice goose foie gras is one of my gustatory pleasures. I don't have it very often, but, along with the chestnuts I mentioned before, the Hungarians were big on their goose liver (France and Hungary are the two largest foie gras producers in the world), and that's one delight I did develop a taste for. Just sublime.

Caviar is only considered "high-class" because it is hard to produce so therefore expensive. I like it just fine in moderation but I am not going to pay for it myself.

Well, you probably like it a bit more than I do, but the existence of cheap caviar indicates people who don't treat it as a Giffen good.

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There are a number of exclusive foods like that. Fugu (poisonous pufferfish) is really bland. Foie gras (fattened goose liver) is sometimes tolerable but usually tastes like licking a newborn baby's diaper.

I'll never eat fugu, but I love foie gras, which I've eaten often enough to say that confidently.

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My ex-wife is one of the most foremost cheese experts in the world responsible for importing the most exotic ones to the U.S. and there are even some that she thinks are disgusting regardless of their history and backstory. I have taste tested some exotic cheeses that made me actively furious. You won't see those in the U.S. because they didn't make it but someone is making and eating them somewhere.

I've never been enraged by cheese (band name!) but I do enjoy the stinky cheeses I've had and the cheeses with rinds and the extremely hard cheeses and... well, I've had my share of the cheese board, and I've never had one I've considered actively bad, as opposed to merely not as good as others.

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Just because something exists and expensive, doesn't mean that it is good.

All-beef franks are infinitely better. And kosher all-beef are the best of the best. Right now, I'd do just about anything for a Chicago-style kosher hot dog with a few drops of Tabasco. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

There shouldn't be any qualitative difference between kosher and non-kosher hot dogs. "Kosher" just means that the animals were slaughtered in a particular way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derleth

For me, it's caviar. The first time I had it, back when my dad was in the Air Force Reserve and my family occasionally ate with him at the officer's club on base, it was just amazingly salty. Salt overload. I always figured "that couldn't have been good caviar, nobody would spread salt paste on crackers and call it high-class" so, when I saw some at Albertsons, I bought a tiny little jar. Well... I was right about the saltiness, but I still don't like it, because it's too fishy. Oh, well. Maybe when I'm richer and stupider I'll buy some of the truly high-class stuff and give it one last whirl.

I have lived in Russia, where caviar is on every table like ketchup in the US. I also happen to think it is disgusting, but I think anything that was an animal is disgusting, so I'm not much of a judge.

Anyway, the way Russians eat caviar is to slice bread thick, spread a pretty thick layer of UNSALTED butter on it (you have to ask if you want salt on your table), and then spread a layer of caviar on the butter. The caviar is not usually spread quite as thick as the butter. Or, at least it was that way for years up until the 1970s, when I was there, and the Russians who visited us in the 80s still did it.

If you are determined to keep trying caviar, try it like that. Use a farmer's white bread, or a light rye bread. A marble rye would probably also work, although I don't recall ever seeing marble rye in Russia.

Chocolate-dipped fruit - like Shari's berries. Blech! They certainly look enticing, but so cloyingly sweet - two great tastes that DONT taste great together.

My prejudice against chocolate with fruit also extends to chocolate cakes with raspberry filling, chocolate-dipped apples (and caramel-apples), and chocolate bars with fruit. If the fruit is good, and the chocolate is good, there is no reason for their union. I love them each - separately.

And scotch. I see people enjoying it, so I need someone to give me a lesson there - it is one drink I cannot stand - tastes and smells like something used for cleaning machinery.

I've never been enraged by cheese (band name!) but I do enjoy the stinky cheeses I've had and the cheeses with rinds and the extremely hard cheeses and... well, I've had my share of the cheese board, and I've never had one I've considered actively bad, as opposed to merely not as good as others.

That is because there are people like my ex-wife and I that are taking the bullet for you. It is a noble profession in that way. You won't ever be able to buy the disgusting ones in your local supermarket because they have been carefully vetted. There is a market for stinky cheeses but it is easy to pass the limit of what any normal person can tolerate.

I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, but olives just have an off putting taste to me. I've never been able to find them appetizing. Yet many people find them delicious. I use the hell out of olive oil though. It's my go to oil for almost everything.

I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, but olives just have an off putting taste to me. I've never been able to find them appetizing. Yet many people find them delicious. I use the hell out of olive oil though. It's my go to oil for almost everything.

Huh. I have a brother who doesn't like olives, and he's the only one in the family who doesn't.

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Originally Posted by Shagnasty

That is because there are people like my ex-wife and I that are taking the bullet for you. It is a noble profession in that way. You won't ever be able to buy the disgusting ones in your local supermarket because they have been carefully vetted. There is a market for stinky cheeses but it is easy to pass the limit of what any normal person can tolerate.

Oh, I'm sure there are some truly disgusting cheeses I'll never get to try. I'm quite happy with the level of disgustingness I've encountered thus far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

Anyway, the way Russians eat caviar is to slice bread thick, spread a pretty thick layer of UNSALTED butter on it (you have to ask if you want salt on your table), and then spread a layer of caviar on the butter. The caviar is not usually spread quite as thick as the butter. Or, at least it was that way for years up until the 1970s, when I was there, and the Russians who visited us in the 80s still did it.

If you are determined to keep trying caviar, try it like that. Use a farmer's white bread, or a light rye bread. A marble rye would probably also work, although I don't recall ever seeing marble rye in Russia.

That sounds like a plan, and I'm just enough of a glutton for punishment to actually try it. If nothing else, I'll have some good white bread and unsalted butter.

I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, but olives just have an off putting taste to me. I've never been able to find them appetizing. Yet many people find them delicious. I use the hell out of olive oil though. It's my go to oil for almost everything.

I like olives as a "back flavor," that is, when they are one of many ingredients in a stew or sauce, and they just add a grace note. But I can't stand eating them plain, because the texture is off-putting. I don't care for them on a pizza for that reason, although I'll accept them if I'm the lone dissenter in a large group, or if it's the compromise I have to make to get a veggie pizza. I've been known to get them on a sandwich from one particular place, though, because for some reason, theirs are not very salty, like most peoples'.

I use the hell out of olive oil in everything but sweet things. I use corn oil for that. If I had my way, I'd use more sesame oil, but it's expensive. I use olive oil during Passover instead of the expensive KFP margarine.

I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, but olives just have an off putting taste to me. I've never been able to find them appetizing. Yet many people find them delicious. I use the hell out of olive oil though. It's my go to oil for almost everything.

Must be opposite day. I love olives, black ones, green ones, stuffed ones - but I cannot abide the taste of olive oil.

If I may go one step further, I'd say strawberries themselves. I've eaten them many times but they're almost always disappointing. They're a little tangy, a little sweet, but mostly bland. I usually end up having to add sugar or some other sweetner to them. I don't have that problem wiith other types of ripe berries and fruits.

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Originally Posted by pulykamell

Grocery store strawberries are like grocery store tomatoes. With few exceptions, absolutely worthless tasting mostly of water and flavorless plant cellulose with a faint aroma of the fruit in question rather than the actual fruit.

Yep. I get some strawberries in the spring from farmers who set up little stands on the side of the road, and those things are so freakin' good. Unlike anything you've every had from a conventional grocery store.

I'm with astro on olives. I really, really wish I could like them, but I just don't. They ruin anything they're in.

There shouldn't be any qualitative difference between kosher and non-kosher hot dogs. "Kosher" just means that the animals were slaughtered in a particular way.

The Kosher dogs my dad used to buy in the American Midwest (primarily from Chicago) came from a different universe than the all-beef franks I get here in Toronto. (I suppose I could try a Halal butcher and see if I can find anything like them. I have yet to see Kosher meat offered anywhere near where I live.)

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I have lived in Russia, where caviar is on every table like ketchup in the US.

I lived in Russia full-time from 1992 to 2008. I can recall only one instance where I was offered caviar in someone's kitchen, and that was because (a) the couple was rich (we're talking BUCKETS of fresh black caviar) and (b) I was giving the wife English lessons. Nowadays, the average Russian can barely afford a tin of the stuff to enjoy at New Year's, and supermarkets keep their selection under lock and key. I go back to Russia at least twice a year, and have noticed that ersatz caviar made from kelp is now on sale in a lot of stores. (Not bad stuff, either.)

Quote:

Anyway, the way Russians eat caviar is to slice bread thick, spread a pretty thick layer of UNSALTED butter on it (you have to ask if you want salt on your table), and then spread a layer of caviar on the butter. The caviar is not usually spread quite as thick as the butter. Or, at least it was that way for years up until the 1970s, when I was there, and the Russians who visited us in the 80s still did it.

This is quite common wherever hors d'oeuvres are served. The bread is normally a round slice from a baguette, and is not terribly thick. The caviar is usually red salmon roe and comes with thin slices of smoked salmon curled and placed on top. You can sprinkle it with lemon juice, if you want.

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If you are determined to keep trying caviar, try it like that. Use a farmer's white bread, or a light rye bread. A marble rye would probably also work, although I don't recall ever seeing marble rye in Russia.

Neither do I, though my local supermarket (in Moscow) always has a bewildering variety of bread on sale.

Oh, man, I dunno. A nice goose foie gras is one of my gustatory pleasures. I don't have it very often, but, along with the chestnuts I mentioned before, the Hungarians were big on their goose liver (France and Hungary are the two largest foie gras producers in the world), and that's one delight I did develop a taste for. Just sublime.

On one cooking show, I saw a French chef make a dish with layered foie gras and grilled apple slices. If I ever make it back to Paris, that's a menu item I'm definitely going to try!

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